Funny Thing About Wolves
by PsycheDancer
Summary: Leah Clearwater's memories, musings, attempts at a memoir and other things that are probably nobody's business but somehow ended up here. Mostly CANNON, 10 years after Breaking Dawn, Rated "T" for now but will change to "M" for language and adult content (in well marked chapters!) Leah/OC Sister -Woman Wolf Companion image via layoutsparks. PLEASE REVIEW!
1. Chapter 1

AN - Well, here it is, my first FanFic piece and post as a writer.

For now, the "M" rating is for language, but in future chapters it will be for adult content. I will make sure to include a warning when lemonade is being served (and maybe even prepared, depending on how things go). Forgive me as, of course, I have no Beta and please review so I know whether to continue or not.

For all the purists out there, advance warning - this piece is mostly cannon, but there will be deviations, mistakes and new characters added. Also, if it seems like a slow start, bear with me we had to start somewhere and Leah and my demon said this was the proper beginning.

Stephanie Meyers owns all things Twilight, I do not.

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_Funny thing about wolves, they don't think in words._

_In the mind of a running wolf, images flicker past. Everything is noticed and processed, but at that point, most of it passes right back out again._

_Make no mistake __– __wordless and mindless are not the same._

_The wolf __does not run__ mindlessly, led only by the scent that fills it's nostrils or the sound that triggers its instinct to find cover. In the wolf existence, there is no need for name tags or categories or labels._

_In the depths of the forest and the wolf mind, a tree stands just as what it is._

_No name or genus attaches itself to the tree. No mental notes about height or color. When you sleep under a tree, it is simply where you chose to lay. When it blocks your view, you move your head. When your prey runs up it, it's gone and you are still hungry. In a wolf's mind, there is no word for tree. _

_It simply is just what it is. _

_There __**is**__ the memory that leads her back to a kill left half eaten __or a high perch overlooking a good hunting field that she passe__d in__ another __**Now.**_

_Living in only __**Now**__ she doesn't mourn their loss if things aren't where she left them. She does not waste her __**Now**__ looking for a bygone kill or perch when there are other things to eat and a million other places she could be. She holds no expectations beyond her innate talent for survival and her ability to move from this __**Now**__ to her next __**Now**__._

_When words were her thoughts, she would have attached terms, names and categories to everything around her.__ I__f she bothered to think of it __**Now**__, it would be a parody of her __**Before**__. A laughable, and possibly thought provoking, perversion of the human condition; perhaps __represented by a tree, thoroughly punched through with all the tags bearing all words that would have been assigned to all of her thoughts. The tags fluttering in the breeze like a __sidewalk sale __being passed by a bus. In the __**Before**__, everything had a name, an assessment and an appraisal that could be shared in symbols or sound. __Green. Bark. Brown. Rough. Vein. Smooth. Bud. Root. Branch… But that was long ago.__ The tags had long since been ripped away and blown into dark corners or washed into unrecognizable clumps of litter by the rain. All no different than __what – __ at one point in her existence – she would have called a "tick" was __**Now**__ just something she scratched, because it needed to happen._

_Long ago, in her __**Before**__, __there had been words__ for time and miles. And though she had seen much of both, time and distance did not pass as it did in her __**Before**__. She simply flowed through them with the moons and rhythms of the forest._

_In her __**Now**__ there was the movement of her feet as they found effortless and silent passage over the snow. There was the occasional growl of her belly that told her to hunt. A heavy feeling in her body conveyed the need to sleep. __And, as always, in the nature of nature, there was a feeling in a place that she had never had a word for, that told her to beware._

_Languageless-ly__, all these things flickered in and out of her __**Now**__ and were either ignored or acted upon as her instinct told her. If she'd thought of long ago, she would remember that she had chosen to leave her __**Before**__ and to live in her __**Now**__. But she didn't. As is the way with a wolf, she also didn't think of the __**To**__**Come**__. Those things were not part of __**Now**__. __**Before**__ and __**To**__**Come **__were equally inconsequential; an old rabbit trail not worth following and a deer trail not yet made._

_But even in a wolf's memory, and especially this wolf's memory, there were some things that nature would not allow her to let drift into her __**Before**__._

_Being the wolf she was, there were only two things that drove her to run mindlessly.__ She always, without fai__l,__ ran from the smell and sound of anything human. For tucked deep in a corner of her being that she had long since stopped exploring, she carried a profound understanding of the danger that came with her very existence._

_A__nd being the wolf she was, she always, without fail, ran t__owards the smell of anything vampire. For in the center of her brain, well lit by the burning of everything from her __**Before**__, sat the blinding knowledge that they were the reason for her very existence._

_Vampires were not in her thoughts __**Now**__._

_The she wolf was hungry. She raised her muzzle to the air and caught the hot, sweet, utterly delicious smell of a female elk. She could tell, by smell alone, that the doe was young, healthy, alone and injured. Maybe it was a run in with a less skilled predator or a misstep between some rocks that had left the mighty elk-ess with a nasty gash__ – th__e wolf did not wonder how it happened._

_A stray remnant of something from her __**Before **__made her stop to take one more good, deep breath before even turning towards the easy dinner. This doe, unlike so many others that the wolf had not taken in the past months, wasn't pregnant. There was no smell of milk or calf clinging to her either. She wasn't a mother, maybe never had been. With agility that could have only come from long forgotten practice since her __**Before**__, the query slipped from her mind even faster than it had streaked in and her mouth began to water..._

Seth choked on his wolfy laughter as he fell out of the darkness of the tree line. He phased, clutching his stomach as the choking sound turned to human guffaws. The light blue tinge of his lips, a left-over from holding his breath, faded and he pinked up quickly as he continued to roll on the ground.

A wave of phase-heat and hysterical laughter rippled across the meadow.

The she wolf jumped heavily to her feet and phased, ducking behind a bush and snatching a sundress over her head. "You little shit! You weren't supposed to be on patrol for another hour!"

"OhmyGod! Oh! My! God!" Seth continued rolling on the ground strangling on his words. "Really? I wouldn't think you'd want anyone to remember you all soft and mushy like that."

Leah kicked him hard as she passed, thoroughly enjoying the sound of the snapping ribs and the howl of pain as she stomped away.


	2. Chapter 2

2. Dear Aunt Tabbie

Pretty self explanatory. Tabitha Clearwater is Leah's Great-Great Aunt, born in the same generation as Ephraim Black.

Please, please review! Thanks!

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_Dear Aunt Tabbie,_

_I'm sorry I haven't written in so long and a very, very happy 98__th__ birthday to you! _

_Before I tell you what's up here, I need to let you know that you've caused quite a stir – everybody's still talking about how great you look and how well you're doing. They say crap like how you're in your 90's and still walking without a cane or (gack!) a walker, like you're some old lady or something! Hahaha! I've got your back – I tell them all that MY Aunt T wouldn't be using a cane unless she was beating someone's ass with it! They talk about how it's all that "clean living" you've done. Boy, you've got them all fooled don't you? I won't say a word, but we both know that it's the "dirty living" that keeps you young! Your secret is safe with me! Hehehe! Just thought you'd want to know._

_Seriously though, now that neither of us are spinsters (WOW! Ever notice how "spinster" and "sinister" look an awful lot alike? Coincidence? I think not!) Anyway, now that we're both not spinsters, is it ok to say I'm relieved? Back when you were 80-something and I was a teenager, I really thought someday that would be me or, I would be you... Whatever, I'd be the beloved spinster aunt. A very beautiful, very cool spinster aunt, but still... I was so happy to hear about Jack! Then hearing about Jack being 32 years younger and then seeing how absolutely gorgeous and happy you were in the wedding pictures – You gave me hope. Sometimes I wonder if you and that little piece of hope, didn't help me find my soul mate. _

_Is it impolite to say THANK GOD I DIDN'T HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL I WAS 86 to find love? I still don't know how you hung on since I was already half crazy by the time I was 21, but I'm glad I don't have to wait that long and you're still my hero! If I forgot to tell you before, THANKS! _

_Did they tell you about Masen? I mean, of course they told you about Masen, but did they __**really**__ tell you about Masen? Like how we met and all that?_

_It doesn't matter. It's better when I tell it anyway._

_So... I'd just got back from finishing my residency (I guess I owe you another apology for not writing during that time either. I'm so sorry. Its not excuse but it was crazy busy and there wasn't anything that interesting to tell. The letters would have been like – Worked. Tried to sleep. Went back to work. Love, Leah – With maybe some cussing in between. No fun.) So, I was finally back in LaPush and Jacob and his wife, Ren (who isn't as bad as I thought, but I'll tell you about that some other time) had invited me over for a big welcome home dinner with some friends. Ren was trying __**really**__ hard to impress me so I'd like her, so she was making this big production out of dinner – She even told Jacob to keep me out of the kitchen. (Like, at that point, I really wanted to purposely be anywhere alone with her, much less cooking in __**her**__ kitchen! But, again, I'll tell you that story next time). So, I'm sitting there with Jacob and his old fart flame Bella (who I've found out really not so bad either... next letter will be huge I guess) just minding my own business when all the sudden Bella's husband, Edward (you didn't meet him) turns around and says that "Masen" is on his way in. All the sudden, everyone starts wigging out! Ren lets out this squeal that about broke my eardrums and actually pulled every single damn thing she was cooking on off the burners and out of the oven. And Jacob starts getting all hoppy-happy, the way he does and knocks his beer – which flips up in the air, spins about 12 times and lands, of course, right onto my lap._

_You would have been proud of me (once you stopped laughing!) I remembered that I was the "guest of honor", held on to my temper and I resisted the urge to slap the snot out of him – which you know for me took some willpower. Instead, I excused myself to the "little girls powder room" to get the beer off of me and rinse out of my new dress – which is gorgeous, sending a picture!_

_You'll love this. Jacob and Ren's house is actually this little fairy-taley looking cottage that Jacob and the boys built out on the back 40 of Ren's family's land. Cute place, but first impression was that it's way too girly for Jacob to even stand close to without destroying, much less live in – but I guess that's kinda one of those being-practical, res talk things. How about this – I wouldn't be at all surprised and would probably believe them if someone told me the roof is made of gingerbread and the grasshoppers in the garden were all named Jiminy and sang "Wish Upon A Star" every night at 11. It's cute to the point that it seems a little over cute and makes it me feel cloddy. But anyway, I'm standing there being a big clod in my underwear trying not to knock over anything in their little frilly cottage powder room, when I hear Masen come in. From all the commotion it sounded like everyone was __**way**__ too happy to see him and I'm thinking, no biggie. Some friend they haven't seen in a while has come to eat all the food so I'll go home hungry – and start wondering if I have a pot pies left in the freezer. And while I was sitting counting pot pies in the that damn little powder room (which I will NEVER pee in because you can hear EVERYTHING) I hear Masen start talking. _

_Aunt T, if I told you that for the first time in my life I understood how someone could think that they were in love with a celebrity – without ever meeting that person face to face and only from hearing them talk to someone else, would it make any sense to you? I hope so because as I sat there in my underwear listening to his voice and the way he chose his words and the way he put them together, something clicked. And while I waited for my dress to dry it started clicking louder and louder until I thought I was going to have to go out in my underwear to get a look at this guy. So I did. _

_No, I'm kidding._

_Reasonable people do NOT fall in love at the sound of a voice. Reasonable people do NOT think they hear their soul-mate in the next room while they sit in a frilly potty, in their underwear washing beer off their thighs and waiting for a rinse-spot on their dress to dry. I decided right then that I was going to be a reasonable person. Then I dug through the cabinet under the sink until I found a hair drier and blasted that sucker for a few seconds. Then I put my blow-dried-damp dress back on and went out to see this Masen for myself. _

_Remember last time you were here? Oh my God – Everything was such a disaster! Dad had died. Sam and I had broke up, lost my best friend and then had the growth spurt from hell and felt like a fricking Amazon... After I told you everything and finally stopped crying, you made some hot coco and we sat out on the back porch. Do you remember me asking you how you knew you hadn't missed your soul-mate and that maybe you had already met, dated and broke up with him? I bet you don't even remember (except maybe the part where I was a self-absorbed brat for saying something like that to you – sorry.) but I've never forgotten what you said that night and some of the other things you told me before you went home. You're going to laugh at me because I've said the words over and over to myself so many times that I know them by heart. _

_You said: "Leah-girl, everyone will tell you that all relationships take hard work. But that's bull! When it's right it's not work – it just __**works**__. I know that I've never met my soul-mate because I've never had a relationship with a man that didn't take a ridiculous amount of hard work and every ounce of energy I had in me."_

_You said: "I believe that when you find love you won't wonder. It will be easy. Natural as breathing and your soul-mate will feel the same way." _

_And then when you hugged me goodbye you whispered in my ear, "Honey, don't you worry about looking for your man. Its a waste of time and energy. God and Spirit know where you are and where he is. When the two of you are ready, he will be put next to you on your path and you never be alone again."_

_Thank you for those words. You were right and that's just how it happened._

_When I walked back into the living room, I found the most beautiful man in existence. He looked up at me like he'd been waiting for me (or maybe even looking for me!) and about the only other thing I remember from that night is talking to him. I don't know what we talked about. I don't know where Ren and Jake went. I don't know what time I went home or how I even drove. All I know is that you were right and I will never be alone again._

_The next morning Jacob was at my door grinning like an idiot and asking me what the hell had happened. According to him (and for once he might be telling the truth) Masen and I just sat and talked and he and Ren just sat and watched. Then Ren called me a couple hours later, asked exactly the same question and told me that not only was Jacob telling the truth, but that there was "an electricity" between us that, as she put it, "Lit up the room and made Jake and I wonder if we should leave or if we dared to leave you two alone..." Pretty funny huh? After all that time wondering, worrying and making myself crazy, all I had to do to find my soul-mate was come home and walk into Jake Black's living room. _

_All the dirt? Hehehe! Oh my should I? Would an elder like you appreciate all the details? Hahaha! Of course you would and since I want you to live at least another 50 years of course I'll tell you! (I really meant it when I said it was the dirty living that was keeping you young – pray for me to have the same fate!) _

_Ok, aside from being beautiful, he's big – and I'm not talking white boy big, I'm talking Jacob plus an inch! Get your mind out of the gutter! He's almost 6'8", and built like a Greek God. Which means I get to be petite next to him and I can wear heels when we're together without looking like Goliath in stilettos! He's so smart AND he's educated AND bright! Really, all three in the same gorgeous package (and you know that those are not the same things) Not that it matters, but he's from a wealthy family – a huge, close family that is nice and has been very good to me. Masen and his family would give me anything if I asked – I never would! I can't tell you how good it feels to be so accepted and how incredibly incredible it is to know that they think so much of me and of us. _

_Do you think I've lost my mind yet? I haven't. If Masen has a flaw, besides being so beautiful I can't stop looking at him, so much fun to be with that I never want to leave and so smart that I feel challenged – not in an "I'm so dumb compared to him" sort of way, but in a way that makes me feel good about my own brains because he listens to my thoughts – that flaw would have to be his heart. It's big. And seeing someone with a big heart and the time and money to back it up is a little hard to watch sometimes. Even though he really doesn't __**have**__ to work, he's not content to sit and let me look at him all day. Of course he has board meetings and all these financial things with his family to take care of, but they usually take him only a few hours a week. So he's sorta dedicated his time (and often money) to a bunch of making-the-world-a-better-place kind of volunteer stuff. At any moment a shelter or crisis center may call and off we go – The Women's Crisis Center's shingles have blow off in the wind? Be there in 12 minutes with a ladder, hammer and nails. Owl with a broken wing? Be there in 8 minutes – with leather gloves, warm towels, a clean animal crate and the wildlife rescue lined up and waiting for the poor creature's arrival. A run-away kid needs a ride? Be there in 5, and we're off to the rescue! _

_A few weeks ago I went with him to pick up the same girl, from the same street corner, with virtually the same injuries __**12 times**__! When the 13__th__ call came in from the crisis center for him to go pick her up, I finally had to say something. Maybe I'm a horrible person, but it seems to me that if someone is going to repetitively run away from emergency rooms AND hospitals AND homeless shelters AND drug treatment programs there's something wrong with them. But the kicker for me was when she took off again after Masen __**himself**__ offered for her to stay in one of his family's hotels FREE while she pulled herself together. He set it up for her to start training for nice little job (with full benefits!) at that same fancy-smancy hotel when she was ready, and promised to help her get a fresh start and build a future off the street. How could anyone just throw a future away like it was nothing? And of course, I had a front row seat to his pain as she threw away every opportunity offered to her. The audacity to do the same thing 12 times in 7 days and still call again on day 8? I told him straight-out that I thought it was nothing more than a game to her and that this time, I thought we shouldn't go get her. _

_Masen listened to me, but he is __**so**__ full of hope that he couldn't help but worry and think that maybe day 8 would finally be the day that it worked for her. He saw the fact that she did call again as a desperate cry for help and hoped that maybe __**that**__ day would be the one that it worked. Day 8 would be __**the**__ day that saw one less 15 year old child lost to the abuse and despair she'd known for so long. How could he not go, and just pray he hadn't stopped one day too soon? Needless to say, we went, found her and picked her up. I spent most of the night with her talking, tending to her injuries, cleaning her up and hoping that something would finally get through to her. _

_She was gone by noon on day 9. We haven't seen or heard from her in over three weeks. But while I'm afraid something unthinkable finally took her for good, Masen believes that she found her own way out and when we see her again, she will be a strong, healthy, independent woman. I can only pray and try to believe with him._

_Wow! That was a crumby story to tell you – but I think it helps describe Masen, and why I love him, so well that I needed to tell you. Did I sound like I was complaining? I'm not. It's super cool. As much as he runs out to try to save the world, I'm included if I want to be and I'm seeing things, good and bad that I didn't know even existed, much less were right around the corner from home. And it is fun and exciting because it's like his mind can't stop – he wants SO badly to help people in some way, and is so driven to give, that he has a hard time being still. He says that the only place he can be still is next to me – Of course then the only problem is keeping me quiet! (That's supposed to be a joke, but I'm afraid it might have more truth to it than I'd like to admit!)_

_I can see you rolling your eyes. Aunt T, when he's around I feel like a teenager, before bad things happened and made me bitter and hardened. My heart pitter-patters when I hear him coming in the door. And I feel small, soft, warm and safe when he puts his arms around me. His voice is like listening to the most beautiful music and lifts me up to places I didn't know I could go. The slightest touch of his hand on my skin leaves electric fingerprints that tingle and glow invisible and don't fade for hours. I feel like I breathe when he needs air, and as long as he breathes, I could swim to the bottom of the ocean and never need for oxygen because I'd have him waiting for me to come back – counting each of his own breaths until I was in his arms again. _

_Wow! Now that was mushy._

_Ok, until next time (which I promise will be soon) I love you! I'm off to attempt to find some shoes that will actually go on my feet! Wish me luck!_

_Leah_

_PS: I was just thinking of that frilly-silly, lacy, girly, little fairy princess powder room again. You'd laugh your ass off if you saw the place and then tried to imagine Jacob peeing in it. I did!_

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

I was still giggling about the thought of Jake in that damn bathroom as I licked the envelope to seal it.

"Honey? She's your favorite aunt. Are you really going to send that to her?" Masen's velvet voice made me pause mid-lick and stay frozen as his fingers brushed my hair aside to kiss the back of my neck. "Wouldn't it be better to not say anything at all than lie like _that_?" His lips had left my skin, but the sweet burn of where they touched me pulsed and rippled, begging for more attention.

For the moment, I resigned myself to my loss and took as deep of a breath as I could.

"Nope." I pressed the envelope's edge into place. "Luna! Wanna go for a ride?"

It sounded like Luna rolled down the stairs. One hundred and twenty eight pounds of fur hit the hardwood, skidded about six feet and slammed into the already cracked cabinet door before her paws found purchase, flipped her around 270 degrees and brought her to my feet – without knocking me over: Tongue lolling, ears alert and an obvious "YES!" in her eyes. Her tail never stopped wagging as I clipped on her leash and headed out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

Howdy and I can see you reading! Well, sorta. LOL!

Third installment and I have the fourth about done. Leah and the demon have been incredibly chatty the past few days.

My eternal _**THANKS**_ to .with. for my one and only review. This chapter is ready now because of your encouragement! Again, Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

It's amazing how much those reviews (or lack of them) mean all the sudden. If it's bad, just the biggest pile of BS and dribble you've ever read, tell me! Just give me something so my one, wonderful precious review doesn't continue to be lonely!

**Please, please review.**

Thanks in advance and ENJOY!

Of course I own nothing Twilight!

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Words.

I immediately spun and headed the opposite direction, thinking that I had strayed too close to a human camp or odd hunter.

_Words_.

Words it took me a second to latch onto, as I had long since stopped thinking or listening to them.

_**Words!**_

I changed my course again and ran at full speed. It took another second to process that they were in my head.

Fuzzy sounds attached themselves to images, faces, places... ME!

_**No. No. No. No. No. **_This time the words leaked from somewhere inside my head, a dark distant place that I hadn't thought about or even dared peak into for a long time. Words and the thoughts attached to them were the link to my pack, my family and the life that I had long since left in the past. Without them I was a silent creature moving through time, with them floating through my head... I might as well have stood on a big stage with a hundred spotlights on me.

That's all it took. He heard me think. He was coming fast and since I couldn't smell or hear him yet, it seemed like he was coming from every direction. I tried but couldn't shake him out of my head. I tried to bring my mind back to the wordless place I had been living. I tried to clear my mind of words and thoughts.

Just be.

Be zen.

I let the world flicker in and out of my sight without seizing on anything in particular. Let my feet find easy purchase on the ground, feel the impact and the crunch of where I had been as it slipped into a still close _Before _as I ran gracefully, thoughtlessly into my next _Now_ right as it occurred. Easy. Like slipping into warm water, the words parted and all started becoming quiet again.

Unlike when I'd attempted to meditate as a human, I did not mindfully count my breaths. I did not will forward the blackness that pushes the images of an active mind away. I knew from the experience that had finally won me my freedom, _doing_ took effort, _being_ didn't. Smelling nothing of interest I slowed to a trot and looked out over the beauty and promise that the valley suddenly at me feet offered.

_Leeeaaaahhhh... _The same voice came again, drawn out into a distant familiar song that both terrified and thrilled me.

Without thought, I leaped over the edge to escape my pursuer. Easily catching the out jut on the cliff face below, then a boulder, then sprang from rock to rock, quickly making my way to the water I could hear running below.

But it was too late. He'd zeroed in on my thoughts; including the direction the shadows lay, the moss on the trees, the smell of a distant campfire, the sound of the water's violence as it poured into the narrow rocky area that formed the rapids... Even trying to not think in words wasn't enough to shake him off my trail because he could see what I saw. As that realization hit me, I also became very aware that I was seeing what he saw, too. I saw him taking stock in the shadows, and moss, sniffing hard at the air for the campfire, deciding on the most likely place to find the river's rapids, then circling to run in my direction.

_Leah, c'mon I know you're out here somewhere._

I tried to block his thoughts as they spilled into my head, but accidentally latched onto the fact that the campfire's smell was still too dilute in the wind for him to locate, and was a little relieved that he wasn't nearly as close as I originally thought he was.

I felt him give a wolfy grin as he felt my relief and understood that I knew that he knew that I knew that he knew...

Jacob Fricking Black's voice was **IN** my damn head.

Funny thing about being a human in a wolf... No matter how long you've done it or how much you think you have control of you r mind, once you start to think in words it isn't so easy to stop.

I tried to clear my mind, go back to thinking without words. I ran opposite the smell of the campfire down the edge of the river a couple of miles before I jumped in and swam.

_Watch the branch... _He warned me right before a fallen tree limb caught a chunk of fur on my tail and ripped it out.

_Ouch! Tuck your tail girl, that hurt... _

I tried not to cuss him, and my poor tail, but the words had lodged in my brain. Trying to talk myself out of thinking in them made more words and trying to stop making more words was frustrating as all hell, which made feelings. And when your "Alpha" is looking for you and watching the world from your eyes, feelings and words are the same thing.

So I jumped out of the river and ran, trying to put as much distance between me and the voice as I could.

_Okay Leah, we can keep doing this or you can just talk to me..._

I caught my wordless self again for a while, as I lost myself to my senses and the feeling of my body moving through my world. Flowing again, as I had been for so long into from each _Before_ and into the newest _Now_ as it lay just behind the next boulder, along an old rabbit trail or between the spaces I skipped over as I flew from one side of a small canyon to the other.

_Stop. Just stop. I'm going to catch up with you, we are going to talk. We __**need**__ to talk. Or, okay, maybe you don't need to talk, but I need to talk to you. Things are happening, things you need to know about. We need you to come home for a while, you don't have to stay, but you really need to come home._

Home...

The rez, with its mix of old and new – crinkly elder eyes gazing softly into the wide excited depths of the curious young. Gatherings under the shade of the ancient trees while everyone casually ignored the depths of community and belonging that were so firmly locked in the culture. Home, with its warm brown eyes, copper skin, thick heads of shiny ebony hair and comforting mix of Quile-glish – the old words mixing with English and pouring out easily into conversations, filling them with rich texture as they conveyed everything from the fascinating to the mundane...

The feeling of home swept over me. I missed a couple of steps as my feet couldn't quite decide which way they wanted to go. I made the decision for them and ran up a slope.

I didn't want to go home. I didn't want to see what had happened to everyone and everything I'd ever cared about. That was in my past, when I was weak and helpless. When I cried because everyone in the world, no matter how inane or ugly, seemed to have someone or be waiting for _their_ someone to come.

Everyone in the damn world but me at least: The odd ball. The genetic dead-end. The girl who would have been really good at being really good if fate hadn't swung it's big bushy tail and knocked my everything into dust. In my _Before_, I was the girl werewolf. In my _Now_, I was just a she-wolf and I was happy with that arrangement.

I didn't realize that I'd stopped at the side of the old dirt crossroad. Without thinking, I knew there had been no humans this way in quite some time. But, while I had already let that fact slip away, I didn't realize the mistake I was about to make. At the corner stood a wooden sign post, my eyes followed it upwards to see the printed words at the top, marking off the land into ways that those long forgotten people would have traveled. Several rough, time battered arrows were nailed close to the top. In worn white paint, the arrow west said clearly still said "Clearwater – 1" with the arrow pointing to the east in stating, "Skull – 3 days".

I would have laughed out-loud at the ridiculousness of the coincidence, if it hadn't dawned on me that I'd _read_ the signs and heard Jacob's snorting wolfy chuckle. I dropped my eyes before I could accidentally read anything else and give away my exact location.

_Good one Leah!_

His sarcasm was thick. In my mind's eye I could see him trying to keep a straight face, before he reined it in and continued with more damnable words.

_In case you're wondering, you're between Skull Canyon and Clearwater Valley. Now the question is, which way you gonna go?"_

No brainer. Not when the signpost at the crossroad was just a little too coincidental. I took it as an omen, a future headline in my life.

_What?_

Right now, this Clearwater _needed_ to win and make my omen headline true! So I ran, not exactly west, but northwest – either way, it was in the opposite direction of Skull What-Ever-It-Was.

I ran.

I jogged.

I hid just off the shoreline while I continued moving. I tried to lose him by jumping in and out of the running in the water again.

_Ha! Clearwater __**won**__! Cute! But you know, talking to me really doesn't mean you're anymore of a loser than you ever were. _I ignored his pestering and picked up my pace a little.

I don't even think it was an hour later when I felt the panic rise in my throat. A sick feeling ran through me as Jacob showed me the sign I'd been looking at from _his_ perspective – just a few yards to the right of where I'd standing where I'd seen it. He happily read me the other arrows that I hadn't dared look at. Of course by then, with me having such a small lead on him, he could smell me in the distance and turned to follow in my fresh tracks.

_Feet don't fail me now. _I thought as I doubled my speed to leave my Alpha in the dust – forgetting once again, and for the last time, that my thoughts weren't my own.

"_Hey, you're talking! Hi! Say something else! God, it is so good to hear your voice. Slow down. Damn, I think you're faster than you used to be... Hey, Leah, c'mon..." _Jacob could somehow manage to whine in a happy tone, or maybe that was change a happy tone into a whine. Whatever. Some things obviously never change.

I was sure I was starting to hear him in the distance, and with the wind at my back, I could definitely smell him now. His warm, woodsy spice smell almost giving me a shiver from the shear familiarity.

"_Awwww... Thanks. Do I really smell that good? Haven't showered in a week. Well, if you don't count all the times you've managed to get me in the water today."_

I made sure I didn't let an answer unconsciously formulate in my head as I jumped back down the small embankment into the water and, in that moment, seeing no other choice and no way to get away from him, God help me, I phased...

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AN: Sorry. Sorry. The chapter got too long too fast and though I kind of hate cliff hangers, maybe you'll scream at me to post the rest of the chapter if I cut it here...

Maybe?

LOL! It's not bribery! I like to call it behavioral modification through a tangible reward system. Somehow it seems a little more dignified than begging.

And review...


	4. 3 Words - continued

Huge thank you's to everyone who took the time to review. I can't tell you how much it means to me!

This is not chapter 4, it's a continuation of Chapter 3 – '**Words**'. I really didn't want to break it up but it just got too long. (Honestly, this was supposed to be a quick explanation of how Leah ended up going back in LaPush after living as a wolf for so many years... But, it turns out Leah had a lot more to say and she isn't the bitter, hurt girl who left all those years ago.) Huge apologies for last night's odd cliff hanger. I won't make a habit of it.

Because of this chapter evolving the way it did, it seems the time-line and how long Leah has been gone is causing some confusion. Each chapter will be in its own time – depending on whether Leah is reminiscing about her _Before_ or talking in her _Now_. The time-line will become more obvious in later chapters, but this chapter and most will be, more or less, 10+ years after 'Breaking Dawn' – Not saying she's been exclusively living as a wolf for 10 years, just that it's _about_ when Jacob came to bring her back to LaPush. I will go back and address the time-line in one of the previous chapters for future readers & Thank you for bringing the confusion to my attention.

And the standard, I do not own Twilight... Enjoy!

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"_Hey, you're talking! Hi! Say something else! God, it is so good to hear your voice. Slow down. Damn, I think you're faster than you used to be... Hey, Leah, c'mon..." _Jacob could somehow manage to whine in a happy tone, or maybe that was change a happy tone into a whine. Some things obviously never change.

I was sure I was starting to hear him in the distance, and with the wind at my back, I could definitely smell him now. His warm, woodsy spice smell almost giving me a shiver from the shear familiarity.

"_Awwww... Thanks. Do I really smell that good? Haven't showered in a week if you don't count all the times you've managed to get me in the water today."_

I made sure I didn't let an answer unconsciously formulate in my head as I jumped back down the small embankment into the water and, in that moment, seeing no other choice and no way to get away from him, God help me, I phased.

Funny thing about wolves that phase into humans... Phasing gracefully takes practice. And since I was doing it for the first time in I have **no** idea how long, I damn near killed myself in the process. Suddenly, I was a gangly human with slick feet and long hair hanging in my eyes, trying desperately to balance on slippery river rocks in an unforgiving river current. Of course I fell, but falling sometimes has its benefits. Rushing downriver and nearly drowning _did_ whip my hair back out of my face so I could see. And by the time I was able to grab a piece of tree and pull myself back ashore, I was quite a way down stream from where my tracks and scent had stopped.

I scrambled out of the water, pulling myself through the sandy mud. I knew I had only seconds before Jacob would figure out that I hadn't just crossed the creek again. It wouldn't take him long to catch that the reason for my missing scent on the opposite bank was because I was moving in the water. After that, there was better than a fifty-fifty chance he'd come my direction and not need to double back in his search. I rolled in the sandy mud, and grabbed a few handfuls of the wet slop to sling back my, astonishing knee-length hair. From there it was a few yards and several misjudgments of how far I could jump from rock to rock – Again, damn near killing myself more times than I care to admit, before I proceeded to climb a tree, buck naked.

I spent what seemed like a _long_ time in that tree. Holding on for dear life; praying Jacob wouldn't smell me or notice the remnants of water that continued dripping down the trunk from my hair.

I waited, clamped onto that tree, holding my breath and willing my body not to shake, while wild emotions that I didn't even have names for coursed through me.

I waited, and considered my options as he passed under me with his nose to the ground. Thankfully never quite close enough to hear the painfully slow, shallow breaths I was forced to take when my body threatened me with unconsciousness.

I waited and watched as he circled, never closer than four thick trunks from my sanctuary. It tugged at my heart, but I waited when I heard a little frustrated whine escape him and watched as he turned and sped off in a direction that would lead him far away from me.

I waited until I couldn't hear Jacob's footfalls in the distance before I jumped from the tree, phasing in midair and ran even faster following the footprints he'd left on his journey to find me.

_Leeeee-aaaaahhh... _ Jacob sing songed my voice about 50 million times in between saying all kinds of other crap I didn't want to hear.

_Okay, I admit it. You're __**good**__. You are __**the**__ sneakiest wolf in the whole world. Now come on, I need to_ _talk to you._

_Okay. You wanna play hide and seek, I'll play. I've got __**all**__ the time in the world, but when I find you, you __**will**__ sit still. Seriously, we need to talk._

_Leeee -aaaahhh. Beloved Alllll-phaaaa here. Good old buddy Jaaaake. I can hear you not hearing meeeeee..._

_Please Lee, don't make me go all Alpha on you._

I knew he wouldn't do the Alpha thing to me. Before I left, he promised he wouldn't and even as I could hear and feel his frustration growing, he kept his promise.

Turns out, I should have made him promise not to sing at me, too.

It started with an evil sounding giggle. Then loud and clear the song that still haunts me to this day began echoing in my head...

_Who let the dogs out?_  
_Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof!_  
_Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof!_  
_Who let the dogs out?_  
_Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof!_  
_Who let the dogs out?_  
_Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof!_  
_Who let the dogs out?_  
_Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof!_

It was all I could do to not laugh and give myself away when he did the first woofs.

Having heard no music, even in my own mind, for so many years, by the third set of woofs, I was tempted to sing along with him just for fun.

_...And everybody was havin' a ball_  
_Yippie yi yo_  
_And then fellas started in howlin', yea_  
_Yippie yi yo_  
_And the girls respond to the howl..._

By the end of the second time he'd sang it through... I was pretty much **over** it.

_...Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof!_  
_I see ya' little speed boat head up our coast_  
_She really want to skip town_  
_Get back off me, beast off me_  
_Get back you flea infested mongrel_  
_Gonna tell myself, "Hey, man, no get angry"_  
_Yippie yi yo_  
_I'm gonna tell_  
_Yippie yi yo..._

I can not even begin to describe how incredibly annoying both the voice and the song became after the next few dozen times he sang it. Or how, eventually, it became laughable in an asininely-irritating way.

_...Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof!_  
_Say, a doggy is nuttin' if he don't have a bone_  
_All doggy, hold ya' bone, all doggy, hold it_  
_A doggy is nuttin' if he don' have a bone_  
_All doggy, hold ya' bone, all doggy, hold it_  
_Who let the dogs out?_  
_Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof!_  
_Who let the dogs out?_  
_Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof!_  
_Who let the dogs out?_

Then something sort of snapped. It wasn't just the singing. I was done. Done playing whatever game I'd roped myself into as we ran mile after mile. Done feeling whatever it was that I was feeling. Done. **Just done**. I tried to block him out. I tried to think of _anything_ else. I tried to not think, or listen, but quickly found out that it obviously wasn't working. He overheard my non-thought thoughts so the singing stopped and he started happily chatting at me again.

_No? Really? 493 words in that song? That's pretty cool and I sound __**good**__! Maybe, I could make a little money. You know, on the side, singing? I'll call myself MC Woofman. Nah... MC Wolfy? Eh... Hey, maybe just The Wolfman? No, there was already one of those wasn't there... I'll have to think about it. Who let the dogs out? Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof..._

I started to put together a crack about calling himself MC Yammer, but stopped. Just not in time.

_Ouch... Leah that's not nice. But hey, at least you're talking. Happy face. Happy face. You know, like texting?_

He paused to see if I'd really broken my silence and when he realized I hadn't he went right back to singing.

In that moment I instantly and instinctively knew that the only way I was ever going to get him to leave me alone was to turn back into _**myself**_. My **real** self. My self that had no need for the words taking up space in my thoughts. I needed to find that place in my head that I'd been living that didn't need to use or think in words – where I ran through the reaches of time and space unattached to the old me, the pack or anything else. The me that lived in the moment, content with being content. I needed to let go of everything I was feeling, good and bad, and just _**be**_.

I took a couple more steps and with a tiny, mental push let myself fall back into the place I had been living for so long now.

Though I continued to leave Jacob far behind, I let go of running _from_ him. Forgetting the reason, I just let the exhilaration of running at top speed flow through me. The sun moved across the sky, turning the shadows long and the air cooler as it rippled through my fur. My feet made easy contact with the ground before quickly deserting it again. I soared over meadows and through thick forests. My mind comfortably going back to being _**my **_mind. Quick and quiet, in its silent roar forward.

Coming to the edge of another canyon, I didn't think of how or where I would cross. I could smell my future dinner below. My body's need for food bringing me along - Riding shotgun for the hunt.

My body knew what to do. Carrying me on silent pads it crossed the cold ground. Muscles drawing taut against bone, then tethering almost painfully tight in tense sinew: Flesh hardening to a pliable stone, skin shrinking, fur lying in a silken vice. Electrical aura wrapping in upon itself, until I was tucked safely away and little more than any other gray shadow gliding across the scenery. Appearing to even the wary as nonthreatening as any of the waning sun's play of light as it fell between the barky legs of the living giants, stone and earth.

Windy paws blow through patches of grass and across the conifer's fallen needles, making no more sound in their momentary purchase than a fallen feather from one of the now silent observers above. Sparkling wetness radiates from alert predatory eyes. Glinting in anticipation, but drawing no more attention than the erratically drifting dust motes catching a ride on a shimmering ray of lazy light. A calm heartbeat of starts and stops slide the shadow towards the big lone caribou buck as he carelessly picks his way across the open meadow, selecting only the tenderest blades to plump his already sated belly.

Like the forced compression of springs, joints fold to grip the ground before releasing the pent energy that transforms the shadow into a fantastic explosion of fur and fury. Propelling the raging hunger half the distance in a single bound - the fierce kinetic bounce delivered the sharp snap of teeth and death to the buck's deflating form.

Instantly passing from this plane to the next, the buck's great spirit is left unstained by feelings of fear or sorrow. His life slipped easily from the confines of his existence and shimmered away with the breeze.

Instinctively grateful for the promising warmth of the nourishment at her feet, respectful eyes watch the shimmering form as it disappears into the tree-line. Then, for a moment, turn skyward in thanks before bowing to begin the feast...

_Oh my God... That was incredible..._ Jacob's reverent whisper touched me gently.

The big russet wolf stood far back in the dark of the treeline, with wide watching eyes and his mouth agape.

_I've never seen anything like that, Leah._

The voice in my head caught a little as he tried to string together words to adequately describe what he had just witnessed. Finally giving up, he replayed my hunt, moment by moment, so I could see the power, reverence and elegant beauty of nature in an act that, through human eyes, would be simply brutal. It touched him so deeply that his feelings brought tears to _my_ eyes.

I blinked back the tears and, knowing that nothing would ever be the same, tossed my head in a motion for him to come closer.

_I'm sorry, Lee... If I'd known it was like that for you I don't know if I would have – __**could **__have come for you... _

He shuddered, slowly choosing his words and carefully stepping towards me like he was approaching a wild animal.

I think I had one of those out-of-body experiences – or whatever you call it when you see yourself doing what you're doing, but from a completely different perspective, as I watched a raggedy looking, horse sized, russet wolf walking towards a much smaller female with his tail and ears lowered in submission.

A few heartbeats passed before I broke the silence.

_You look thin Jake. Come eat with me._


	5. Chapter 5

UH! OH! I can not apologize enough for not getting this posted earlier. Actually, I thought it I posted it about a week after the last chapter, and it was the current chapter was taking me forever... Wow! BIG, huge, OMG! How-in-the-world-did-I-miss-that moment! ARG! But... If you'll forgive me, it's here now and I have the next chapter almost ready (which is how I figured out that this one had never been published). Now I'm left question if Leah and the Demon stopped talking to me because I hadn't got this up yet. Makes me wonder...

**PLEASE NOTE THAT THE RATING HAS CHANGED TO "M"!** At this point it is due to language, but still, be forewarned. _Some_ people's cussing could make a sailor blush.

And as always, I don't own anything Twilight. I simply write it as it's told to me. :)

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**4. Across A Crowded Room...**

There was a voice coming through the bathroom wall that drew me towards it. I don't remember the exact words, but the sound of it hit my nervous system and reverberated through me. It sounded like the music of a grand orchestra, every second filled in by the beginning, end or echo of another note. In that second, sitting in Ren Black's pretty little powder room, I felt like the tiniest of all fairy tale princesses getting ready to for the ball – with my invisible fairy God-mother flitting around me putting on the finishing touches and gently pressing me with the final words of wisdom I would need to fulfill my destiny. Something in me knowing that while I sat helpless, but safe for now, when the door opened, I would be stepping out into my big unknown, beautiful future. In the next room everything would change and nothing would never be the same.

And simultaneously, I felt like a big, self-sufficient she-wolf, trapped and suffocating in a small airless room while an unseen someone poked at me with a sharp stick. Knowing instinctively that when the door opened and I stepped out into whatever future fate had chosen for me, nothing would ever be the same.

The battle raged in me as I grabbed a blow-drier from under the sink and blasted my dress acceptably dry. Slipping it back over my head, I realized that my feet were betraying me, leading me towards the door when _I_ had already decided that _I_ was going to leave the party via the small window by the toilet. My mind struggled against my body and spirit.

The lilting chorus of the voice called for my spirit to bring me through the magical portal that lay just the twist of a door knob away, but my mind rebelled. I'd spend too many years trusting my instincts to stay alive. And now my instincts were telling me that **whatever** this was, it was wildly dangerous.

The smell coming from it seeped under the door and I had to actually hold on to the sink to keep myself from, at different moments, running out the door towards it or puking my guts up.

I considered phasing, positive that I could take out the external wall if I hit hard enough - I'd just explain to Jake and Ren that it had been an accident and pay to replace it.

The seductive allure of warm amber and cinnamon filled my nostrils, making my heart race and calming my shaking hands. I knew that, no matter how much I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to phase and escape.

My feet began moving towards the door again, towards the sound and smell of the toxic _something_ that awaited me on the other side.

My mind reminded them that I'd forgotten my shoes.

My spirit told me my mind to go fuck itself, where I was going I didn't need shoes.

An inner voice screamed that something wasn't right - **I** wasn't right.

But my wolf howled so loudly that it blocked out everything else.

I wondered when exactly did my wolf start agreeing with my treacherous body and spirit then watched, completely disembodied, as my hand reached for the shiny oval door knob and begin to twist.

My wolf surged forward, no longer content to wait for the door to open.

My spirit sang, drunken from the sweet musical voice and intoxicating smell that it wanted... _needed_ to seek out and be close to.

It occurred to me that it was 3 against 1 and I was just along for the ride.

Defeated, I stepped into the short hall and turned the corner into the living room.

"Oh, good, Leah, this is Mase..."

In one fluid motion it just happened: Our eyes locked. Neither of us looking up first or waiting for the other to acknowledge our presence. Neither of us beginning to move before the other or taking a first hesitant step. If the room had been larger we would have both been running to close the gap between us, but as small as it was we just moved, being carried forward by some odd magnetic wind.

Somewhere, on another plane I heard Edward say, "Oh shit!"

But caught in the depths of the heaven-in-deep-chocolate eyes that I was being pulled towards, even the shock of hearing Mr. Perfect cussing barely registered with me and did nothing to stop the pull of need that moved me forward.

Bella's voice said, "Edward?"

Jake's voice said, "Whoa, dude, I've never heard you say..." Then trailed off.

Ren said, "Daddy?"

There may have been more said, but it didn't matter.

In that moment, all that mattered and all that would ever matter again was the beautiful man moving towards me. Lost in some kind of time warp magic, I found myself in front of him staring up into his eyes, feeling intoxicated while the world spun in vivid clarity. He was so close that I could feel the heat of him penetrating through every inch of me from all sides. His eyes held me, a willing captive in their depths, while they cast light into the core of my heart and soul.

His eyes never left mine as his gentle fingertips came up to brush a stray strand of hair from my cheek.

_My God, you are so beautiful. Why'd you keep me waiting so long?_

The same melodic voice echoed, obviously inside my head now, making my knees weak and my vision blur as my eyes welled up with tears. I didn't know how to answer. Was there any reason to tell him about the beer landing in my lap? Did I need to admit I had been afraid to come out of the bathroom and had planned on going out the window? As the thoughts flickered through my mind his face became soft, then his eyes closed ever so slightly like he was the one being touched by the beautiful music I had heard earlier in his voice. His eyes came to rest in mine again as the corners of his soft lips turned up in a smile, as if I were telling him the whole story...

"OH FUCK NO!" Somewhere in the distance I heard Jacob yell. His voice boomed through the thick invisible walls that surrounded us as he started to move our direction.

"What?" Female voices confused, scared, unsure about Jacob's outburst and was happening.

_My mate._

Masen, stepped into me and spun me towards his family as he wrapped his arms around me protectively. He didn't say a word out-loud, but the room was suddenly deathly silent.

_Don't worry. I've got you, Love._

Just as I felt like my knees would buckle, his voice touched my mind again, making my heart skip a beat.

"Ha! Paybacks are a bitch." Edward clapped Jacob on the shoulder as Bella and Ren continued hovering around them looking for answers in the quiet room.

"No. Son-of-a-mother-fucking-bitch. No!" Jacob pinched the bridge of his nose for about a split second, then changed his mind and started roaring towards me, "No! Nono! Nonononono!"

Have to admit, I was a little blindsided and confused when Jacob looked at me as if I'd just committed some horrible crime and reached out like he was going to pull me away from the glorious heat at my back.

A flare of anger started to form in the pit of my stomach. But as quickly as it came, a wave of calm that washed over me extinguished it; cooling my anger and rocking me back until I was pressed fully against Masen's chest and with his big arms circling me. Still holding me tightly to him, Masen reached out and gently caught his father big hand in his even larger one.

"No, Dad." His voice was deep and calm.

Jake took a moment, carefully removed his hand from the trap he'd stuck it in, and then shook it a little to work the cramp out – and all like no one was around to see that he'd just been corrected on his crazy by his own son.

"Dammit, Leah! Come into my house, make Ren a nervous wreck and imprint on my kid. For fucks sake!" Jacob was obviously shooting for father of the year, but the sound of his annoying screeching brought me out of whatever weird wolfy thing had been happening.

Before I could even open my mouth, Bella was on him, "Seriously? Really? Seriously Jacob? You imprint on my _newborn_ daughter, while I'm _dying_ and blame Leah when it happens to her and your _grown_ son? That is some serious BS!" Edward, still laughing his ass off, stepped in behind her and he caught her hands and turned her towards him in what looked like one of their sick-sweet love things; or at least would have, if it hadn't been right when it looked like she was over talking and ready to start swinging. She shot him a nasty look back over her shoulder and then started giggling too, eventually burying her face in his chest while they both laughed.

Jacob started towards them, ready to take both the giggling vamps on, but Ren stepped in front of him and said softly, "Jake, you can't do this."

One look at her shut him up.

_See, told ya I'd take care of it._

I turned back towards Masen and couldn't help but smile. I took a chance on my own level of crazy and answered the voice in my head out loud, "You took care of that, huh?" I think it surprised both of us a little that I could speak.

"Yeah, it worked out didn't it?" He grinned down at me almost daring me to kiss those soft tempting lips. "And... You didn't have to climb out the window, no one got hit, _you_ didn't hit anyone... I'd say all in all, that went pretty well wouldn't you?"

I heard Jacob start muttering behind me, "What the _hell_ are they talking about?" But I didn't, or maybe couldn't turn to see his face, which I'm pretty sure was a gorgeous shade of purple right about then.

Masen laughed and squeezed me even closer. _Purple? Ha! You're right. He__ is__ purple._

Edward started laughing even harder. Forced to turn, I threw a warning glance his way while he attempted to stifle even more giggles in the top of Bella's head and put his hands up in surrender.

Dense Jacob, watched the exchange and whispered into Ren's ear, "Seriously, what the fuck is going on. What were they talking about?" He motioned towards Edward and Bella, "And what's got them going?" Throwing Edward into yet another fit of hysterics.

_Grab your shoes. Let's get out of here._

I answered the musical voice again, still hoping that I really was hearing him and not just imagining things,_ "_Well, Mr. Masen, umm... Black? Seems to me that if you know me half as well as you seem to think you do you'd know I don't need them."

_Touche'. But... I was just trying to make it look good for the old folks. Gramps over there is usually a pretty big stickler for proper etiquette and I'm thinking Dad might just have a heart attack if he could hear what I'm thinking right now._

It was time for me to burst out into my own round of giggles. Edward cleared his throat and I could feel the blood rising in my cheeks before it dawned on me, "Damn it you mind raping leech! Get out of my head!" I shot at him. From the look on his face, I could tell that the last thing in the world he wanted to hear was what his grandson seemed to be thinking about me, or what I definitely was thinking about him.

"You know Leah, I'd love to. But it would be a lot easier if I didn't have to look at you two while I try to tune you out. Why don't you guys go for a walk or something? I'll do what I can here." He tossed his head towards Jacob as his face broke into a genuine smile that, for the first time ever, let me see a teeny glimpse of why Bella had fallen all over herself for him.

Maybe Grand-Pappy leech did have a heart somewhere in that cold, dead chest of his.

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Reviews PLEASE and huge thank you's in advance for your time!


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